Results of Production Testing Should Be Considered Before Increasing Patriot's Production

GAO reviewed the Patriot Air Defense Missile System's performance capabilities to determine the Army's progress in resolving the system's earlier performance and reliability problems in relation to future production rates.

Congress approved the fiscal year (FY) 1983 Department of Defense request to increase Patriot's production; in the Army's FY 1984 budget, the Army plans to request additional production increases. GAO noted that, during the past 2.5 years, estimates of Patriot's program costs have nearly doubled and that current cost estimates are for more than $11 billion, with increases likely because of unresolved problems. GAO stated that test results do provide a basis for optimism about the Patriot system's ultimate performance capabilities. Progress has been made in solving hardware reliability problems, but deficiencies remain in maintenance software. GAO noted that the Army is developing improvements which are to be tested in 1983. GAO believes that delaying the FY 1983 contract for a few months would have a minimal effect on the program's schedule and cost. Additionally, a delay until production tests are concluded could increase the possibility that the Patriot will perform at the level of Army requirements.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Donald E. Day Team: General Accounting Office: Mission Analysis and Systems Acquisition Division Phone: (202) 275-8408